LEARNING CENTER

4 STEPS TO CREATE YOUR OWN ONLINE COURSE

Let's say for example, you're great with Google Sheets, Google Docs, or Microsoft Excel or some other form of software. Maybe you're a very talented woodworker, maybe you're an individual who knows how to navigate Facebook Advertising while blindfolded. Let's say you're a home-remedy cleaning individual or can help others save thousands of dollars using various apps and coupon platforms.

Whatever your talent may be. You can monetize it.

​I'm going to share with you a quick four (4) step process to help you create your own online course and monetize your knowledge.

THE $107 BILLION INDUSTRY THAT NOBODY IS TALKING ABOUT

In an article published by Inc., LinkedIn's acquisition of Lynda.com for $1.5 Million is a strong indication that online courses are the future of monetizing knowledge, generating leads, and utilizing these online course platforms as crucial part of your marketing and digital strategy.

LinkedIn purchased Lynda.com for a couple of reasons.

As the number one online social networking platform for professionals; some are job seekers, some are professionals looking to network and generate leads, while others are utilizing the platform to share information and develop a persona of an industry professional.

LinkedIn purchased Lynda.com to allow job seekers and professionals to consume content, take courses, and sharpen their skills, helping them become more marketable to employers.

Second, LinkedIn purchased Lynda.com as a means to generate additional leads. The enrollment in a course, produces a response in the LinkedIn platform which flags a vote for specific content job seekers are pursuing. Which industries are of the highest demand, and filling the void where skills may be lacking to current employers.

WHY ONLINE COURSES ARE IMPORTANT

Online courses are a large part of your content strategy. You create, curate, and exchange information in the form of content and leverage that content in a course. Let's say you have a blog revolving around LinkedIn Prospecting and how to generate sales leads for your sales department.

You can take all of that content, and create a 10-module, 60 minute course focused on leveraging LinkedIn as a Lead Generation platform. Charge $69 for the course, and you'll monetize your knowledge through automation. You no longer have to sit on webinars, or hold courses at your local corporate office, coworking space, or other on-site locations.

You simply record the videos, create pitch decks, slide shows, and so on, upload those into your Learning Management System (LMS) and simply share this with your audience. Your audience can now take that course, and learn everything you have to offer and share. They can ask questions and submit them to the dashboard, whereas, you can answer them at your leisure, prior to them moving on to the next module. You can implement surveys, mini-tests, or checkpoint quizzes to ensure the students are learning the correct information in a systematized manner.

WITHOUT FURTHER ADIEU: The 4 Step Process!

Step 1: Gather Information

Gather the information you need to create your very own course. Gather all of the information in a systematic manner, which allows your students to learn in a sequential manner. You'll want introductory information, data, infographics, statistics, and any supplemental information necessary to build your course.

Keep in mind, you are teaching a course, and you'll want to make sure you share enough information to help connect the dots. I call this, "The Value Gap" or some associate this with the "Knowledge Gap."

Your goal is to fill that Value Gap/Knowledge Gap, and ensure the greatest experience for your students, as possible.

Step 2: Create Presentation

Now, you'll want to create a presentation. I like to use Google Slides. This allows me to create a slide show with the proper slides showing the relevant information from each module.

Each module should include lessons. Lessons are the breakdown or break out of each step in the process. Keep this very clear, concise and simple to follow.

​If you're a woodworker, make sure your audience knows which tools they will need, what the set up will look like, share your work space, and the tools you use, maybe include a list of items you'll need them to purchase and where is the best place to purchase these items.

Step 3: Practice, Practice, Practice

My favorite free tool is Screencast-O-Matic. To give you an example. Create your slide show in Google Slides. Let's say you have 12 modules. You should have 12 slides, minimum, which will coincide with your modules.

My process includes, using Screencast-O-Matic to record my screen and audio from my laptop to capture a voice-over screen share with slide show. I hope that makes sense.

This is a screen shot of my Potent Prospecting course which I built. It is a slide and voice-over using Screencast-O-Matic, which you can find in the Chrome Webstore. This is simply a Chrome Extension you can use at your leisure.

Step 4: Upload into LMS (Learning Management System)

My favorite Learning Management System (LMS) is Sparkki, you can create as many courses as your little heart desires, and you pay one flat rate to access the platform. I can solicit this to my audience, I published a book entitled, "Potent Prospecting" and in the book, I share the domain name / URL, which takes them to the course enrollment page. These folks can get an in-depth look into building their very own Potent Prospecting Playbook by taking the course.

As you can see, here. I have uploaded all of my modules, and slide share videos made from Screencast-O-Matic, using Google Slides + Voice-over audio.

Now, my ideal clients can enroll into this course, and immediately jump into the modules and learn all of the finer and more granular details of building out their very own Potent Prospecting Playbook. They learn the tools, and can download PDF files with worksheets they can use to calculate their ratios and metrics.

I hope this has been helpful, and always, please feel free to reach out with any questions, comments and/or clarifications needed.